


A Betrayal of Trust

by Dellessa



Series: Pursuit [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-20
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-16 10:04:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1343488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dellessa/pseuds/Dellessa





	A Betrayal of Trust

_“Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.”  
~John le Carre_

_Cybertron. Pre-War._

Starscream was late. More than a little late. So late that he knew Ratchet would be furious about it. It was far from his intention, he had just been distracted. He was always distracted these days. He worked too hard. He worked too long. He would not argue that he did not enjoy it. He did. Every single moment, of every single nanoclick. These feeling had not changed in all twenty vorns he had the pleasure of working with Ratchet as a partner. If anything they intensified, he mused as he hurried across the academy grounds, flying as fast as he could manage given the congested nature of the area. Still, he could not help but groan inside. He was still so late. Today of all days to come out of a recharge so many joors after he had initially planned. It was embarrassing at best. Thundercracker and Warp had been little help. They had not tried to rouse him. Starscream reached the door, and dashed inside, hurriedly he made his way to the lab, relieved at least he did not have to have the twins in tow today. They would have only slowed him down. Ratchet had watched over them, and would have brought them in early. 

Starscream’s spark throbbed in his chest for a moment. Pleased at the life they had built together. The twins, well, they had been to help the study Ratchet and he had been conducting. A study on the nature of split sparks. Why they happened. A lot about the spark was a mystery. Millions of vorns of study and they were still mysteries. So many mysteries. They had been lucky. It had been his idea to have the sparklings. Partly to aid in the experiment. He had not thought for a nanoclick that they would have twin sparks on their first try.

If he was truthful it was just as much a way to bind the other scientist to him than anything else. It was the one thing that mourned him greatly. The society of the ground-pounders was not his own. Aside from the high-borns they did not make lasting bonds. They bound each other lightly and moved on when they grew bored. Starscream could not fathom it. Seeker society was far different. Light bonds were unheard of. Trine-mate bonds were spark deep. Trine, Kin, and mates. They were the most important part of a Seeker’s life. They *WERE* a Seekers’ life. He had tried his best, over the vorns to make Ratchet understand this. He had yet to succeed.

They had had sparklings. After the twins, four Seekers. The twins were nearing their completion of the education at the Academy. He loved them all, and was surprised that Ratchet had wanted them just as badly. Swiftwind, Solarnight, Nebuladust, and Shootingstar had came last. His spark contracted painfully for a moment. He loved them so much. And so did Thundercracker and Skywarp, who were watching them currently.

He peeked in the lab. “Ratchet?” he asked, his voice clear in the silence. 

His partner growled, and refused to look at him as he entered. 

“Ratchet, I’m really sor--”

“What. You could not rouse yourself from the Lord Protector’s Berth?” Ratchet snapped, finally looking up, his eyes were sharp.

“I...Ratchet. It isn’t like that.” Starscream blanched, and flinched. He had never seen the mech quite this cold before. He could not wonder for a moment if Ratchet’s logic processor was malfunctioning.

“Isn’t it?” Ratchet said coldly. “I saw how he looked at you. I’m not stupid, Starscream.”

“No. It isn’t.” Starscream denied, a sinking feeling in his spark. 

“I think you should leave.” Ratchet said slowly, not looking up from the datapad he was studying. “We have taken this as far as it can go.” 

Starscream flinched. “Ratchet.” 

“Just leave. I can’t look at you.” 

Starscream flinched again, and then he ran. Ran until he could fly, and then flew blindly. His processor too much a jumble to even know where he was going. He found himself in the last place he should have fled. The very place Ratchet had assumed he was this morning. He looked up at the massive building and the tower that rose high above the city. 

Starscream frowned, and looked hard at the building. Megatron. Starscream was not entirely comfortable with the High Lord Protector's interest. He whispered and cajoled, and had told the Seeker, that perhaps his skills would be best used elsewhere. He had introduced him to Skyfire. He liked the other flier well enough, he was not a Seeker, but he was also not a Ground-pounder. Starscream considered, feeling mournful about it. Skyfire was also the best in his field. The best and the brightest, not unlike Ratchet or Starscream himself. That calmed his processor. He had always been attracted to power. Seeker's as a whole were. They were the rulers of the Cybertronian skies. How could they not be? He was the fastest, the best. Didn’t he deserve the best in turn?

Megatron himself attracted the Seeker as well, as uneasy as he also left Starscream feeling. The Seeker reasoned to himself, it was, perhaps, in part to his family. Not just high-born. He had met enough of those at the academy. No, Prime. It left the Seeker shivering. Highest of the High. He steeled himself. The High Lord Protector had extended him an invitation. Come see him at any time. Anytime at all. Starscream shivered again, but found himself striding towards the building, a mask of Seeker arrogance slipping onto his features. If Ratchet really thought that of him he would show the Ground-pounder. He would show him.

OoOoOoOo

Megatron had listened to him intently. Perhaps too intently, the high-grade flowing a bit too freely. So freely Starscream was having the hardest time concentrating. Megatron was speaking, but it was more soothing noise then anything. The young scientist tried to focus his attention on the High Lord Protector but he kept drifting off.

Megatron smiled, in amusement laced with triumph. He could tell he had already snared the mech. It was not nearly as difficult as he had believed it would be, but the young bot’s foolish partner had already done much of the work for him. He touched the Seeker's arm, and he did not flinch away this time. Megatron's smile grew, and finally, he leaned in silencing the young scientist for once; his mouth hard and hungry against the other mech's.

Starscream stiffened for a moment, his processor reminding him of Ratchet, before he threw himself into the kiss. He just wanted to forget. And for a time Megatron did just that for him, Starscream forgot it all. 

Starscream did not entirely remember how they ended up on the berth, or much that happened after. Only the fatigue that followed his overload. He shivered. He was not entirely even sure how many times Megatron had pushed him over the edge of that precipice. He still felt half-charged, his port tender. It was nothing like being with Ratchet. Nothing at all.

OoOoOoOo

Starscream enjoyed working with Skyfire much more than he had imagined he would. They were not close like Ratchet and he had been. It was not the same kind of dynamic. But they had grown into a friendly camaraderie. It was enough for Starscream. He told himself that, having made made his berth. He had not talked to Ratchet, who was now a medic, in more vorns than he cared to count. It still stung, painfully each time he saw his sparklings. They were older now, and all attending the academy. He kept the twins at a distance, scared to let them any closer. Starscream was just scared these days, although he hid it well. Things were not right on Cybertron. Factions were forming. There was unrest. The Senate bickered amongst themselves. The Prime and the High Lord Protector seemed to be locked in their own war between one another. Things were changing fast. Too fast for Starscream. This too scared him. Nearly as much as Lord Megatron did. They had become too entangled. The Lord too demanding, and Starscream was helpless to say no to him. Even when their relationship took a darker turn. Even when Megatron began to hurt him. He could not help but believe everything that Megatron told him. He could not help but be swayed by the mech's rhetoric. They deserved more than the Prime was willing to concede them.

Even so. When Skyfire proposed an expedition to the far stars he jumped at the chance. Jumped at a chance to leave the politics and pain behind. To soar amongst the stars and the chilled space he loved. He could not pass up such a chance. Which had only lead him to his current predicament. He looked mournfully at the bars of the cell and felt like purging himself. The idiots, the utter idiots thought he had killed Skyfire. Their utter foolishness made him sneer. Skyfire had been lost on the planet the were exploring. A storm had blow up. Starscream himself had nearly crashed on its surface. One moment they had been in contact, the next then Skyfire was gone. The silence deafening to Starscream's sensors. 

He had hunted for his partner for what seemed like an eternity or more, and then the storm had intensified. Starscream fled rather than suffer the same fate. He had come back later, renewing his hunt, but whatever sign of Skyfire there was it had been hidden well. Finally, low on energon, and spirit he made his way back to Cybertron, only to end up here. In the brig. Under arrest. He fret and paced. In turns raging at his fate and falling into despair. He was in one of those lows when the Lord High Protector had finally come to claim him.

Starscream stopped his pacing, finally when the guard led the High Lord Protector down into the brig, stopping in front of the cell. Starscream nearly flinched at the look on Megatron’s countenance. The guard disengaged the energy bars. The guard glanced nervously at Megatron for a moment, “You are free to go.” 

“Come along.” Megatron barked, turning and not bothering to see if the Seeker followed or not. 

Starscream’s optics widened, following after a moment. “Where are we going?” He finally asked, his optic’s going wider still when the other mech’s clawed finger’s closed about his arm, pulling him along. 

“Home.” Megatron said, his voice a low growl. His grip tightening as he pulled Starscream along. 

The Seeker’s eyes widened and finally panic began to set in. “Please let me go.” he begged, coolant building up behind his eyes. “Please.” 

Megatron’s optics narrowed dangerously. “I suggest you stop causing a scene. I have little tolerance for this. I do not think you understand the strings I had to pull to get you out of there.” 

“I’m sorry.” Starscream whimpered, realizing they were nearing the tower. The area becoming more familiar for what little that was worth. He tried to pull away, wincing when Megatron’s grip tightened, metal alloyed crushing beneath his grip.

“No. You are not.” Megatron said, smirking. “But perhaps you will be, little Seeker. You are mine, remember that.” 

“I am not.” Starscream protested in a little voice, regretting it as soon as it left his vocal processor. 

Megatron laughed, it contained neither mirth nor joy. “You are. There will be no doubt of that soon.” 

Starscream struggled harder, “No, please.” 

Megatron’s eyes flashed red, and then narrowed. “If you do not cooperate I will make this worse than the pit for you, and worse for your sparklings. The first born for example...” 

Starscream flinched, and knew deep in his possessor that Megatron would do that and worse. Not his sparklings, he cringed at the idea. He loved them all and would gladly lay down his life for any of them. 

“You will do as I tell you. Or I will make them all pay dearly. Do you understand?”

Starscream just shivered.

“Do you understand me?”

“Yes, I do.” Starscream forced it out.

The tower was deserted as Megatron dragged him through the main floor. Starscream was tankful for that at least. The less bots that witnessed his humiliation, the better. 

“Why are you doing this?” Starscream finally whimpered.

“Because, I can.”

OoOoOoOo

Starscream looked up at the ceiling, feeling listless. He hurt in places he didn’t know it was possibly to hurt in. He thought about the string of events that brought him to this and felt the deepest despair he had ever felt in his life. He thought about Ratchet, and his sparklings. He despaired for their safety. What other choice did he have to submit? Megatron would destroy them all otherwise.

Megatron’s bulk was sprawled against him, deep in recharge. Still, Starscream was afraid to move. He stayed as still as possible. If he moved Megatron would wake, and it would start all over again. His optics stung with coolant again, and he cursed himself inside. So weak. The new bond felt raw. Such things should have been a comfort. Something that warmed your spark. Starsceam’s spark just hurt. It throbbed painfully, as unhappy about the bond Megatron had forced on him than the bot himself. So it seemed. Finally, he gained enough courage to squirm away, only to be stopped as the other mech pulled him close, suddenly coming out of charge. Starscream whimpered deep in his throat. It began again.


End file.
